36 LEPIDOPTERA. 



contracting and expanding ; on the anterior and posterior 

 segments the dorsal Hne becomes closer and darker ; below 

 the first subdorsal line is a stripe of yellowish- or reddish-buff, 

 then comes another waved fine double thread; then the 

 yellowish spiracles, scarcely distinguishable in a drab stripe, 

 which is bordered below by a dusky line, followed by a reddish- 

 buff" line ; undersurface drab with central and sub-ventral 

 whitish lines ; usual spots represented by fine black dots ; 

 and in one specimen the middle segments were suffused with 

 a smoky hue. Legs and prolegs of the colour of the body. 

 (Eev. J. Hellins.) 



July to May on knot-grass, chickweed, dock, Lotus major 

 and L. amiiculatus , and most probably upon the larger wood- 

 grasses ; partially hybernating but recommencing to eat 

 early in February, Abroad it is said to feed also upon 

 Hypericum, Orirjanum, Achillea, Lamium, and Ccntaurca. 



Pupa very lively, yellowish, the segments clouded with 

 darker, and a peculiar, double-pointed, crown-like, little 

 horny prominence on the anal segment ; cremaster shining, 

 with two straight pin-shaped points at the end. (Hofmann.) 

 In a spindle-shaped cocoon of yellow silk attached to the 

 upright culm of a last year's seed-stem of grass. 



Having no personal experience of this moth I gladly avail 

 myself of Mr. W. E. Jeffrey's observations. He says that 

 it flies naturally in the sunshine. He particularly noticed 

 this, since the insect is usually disturbed from long grass by 

 walking through it. This he found was the case on dull 

 days, but in the hot forenoon, when the sun was shining 

 brightly, they were to be seen starting up from various parts 

 of the hillside when there was nothing to disturb them. The 

 female he noticed to be sluggish and to fly reluctantly in the 

 sunshine ; after taking a short flight it would settle on 

 a blade of grass, then commence sliding down in a series of 

 grotesque jerks for about two-thirds of its length, and bending 

 the abdomen round deposit from two to six eggs in a row on 



